UML Libraries has added PressReader as a new subscription. The PressReader Library provides full-text access to over 3,000 international newspapers from 100 countries in 60 different languages.

Newspapers are presented in their original language and layout. The viewer presents them as a two page spread in their original print format complete with advertisements. Clicking on an article opens it in a separate window that allows for it to be easily shared, printed, read aloud, or translated (translations, though, only provide a general interpretation of the article — it is not an exact iteration — and is limited to ten major languages).

Access for each newspaper includes as much as 90 days of back issues. Page and article sharing, RSS feeds, and commenting features enhance the traditional newspaper and magazine experience:

Highlights of new website features released by the Irish Newspaper Archive include visibility of corrections and references, zoom controls and many others:

Newspaper View Changes
1. Added support for zoom in/out directly on page. Added “+” and “-” buttons to the toolbar.
2. Added sharing of article pages via Facebook and Twitter.
3. Added, “pin” button which allows switching between a docked and floating state of the toolbar.
4. Implemented automatic hiding of “Sections” button for newspapers having less than 2 sections.
5. Replaced flipping page corners with page navigation buttons at left / right side of the viewer.
6. Added highlighting of search term hits on pages (in addition to highlighting of selected search result).
7. Supported two behaviors for “click on page”: open article or zoom in/out (controlled by configuration). By default, “click on page” zooms in to 100%.
8. Improved integration with search results: double-clicking one of “found” articles on newspaper page behaves exactly as it does when you open it from search results (e.g. hits are highlighted and “previous/next search result” buttons become available). APA 5.0 just highlighted hits without the option to navigate search results.
9. Improved toolbar icons
10. Added support for touch screens
11. Added flipping of pages with swipe gestures – either touch or mouse.
12. Added support of full-page ads between newspaper pages
13. Added support of rich media

Article View Changes
1. Added support of “see also” links – they are appended to the end of the article’s content.
2. Added a “Back” button that allows returning to the previous article after clicking “see also” or the continuation link.
3. Added sharing of articles via Facebook and Twitter.
4. Added a “Link to article” button in the viewer’s toolbar.
5. Added a bar with information about the article’s source: publication name, issue date, section and page label.
6. Added support for manual resizing of the article viewer popup.
7. Article viewer automatically resizes itself to better fit size of the content.
8. Improved the design of the article toolbar.

Browser navigation history
1. Application’s panels (home, browse, search etc.) are now integrated into the browser’s navigation history. Users can use the browser’s Back button to return to the previous screen.
2. Tracks search queries that users launch in the application (including “automatic” ones that occur when users click the column bar in a search results chart or select some value from the filter menus). It is also now possible to use browser’s back button to return to the previous search query.

My Collection changes
1. When the user opens the article viewer from the “My Collection” view, he/she can navigate to next/previous article without closing the viewer by pressing the corresponding buttons in the toolbar (similar to navigation within search results).
2. ”My collection” is now stored for each application and user

Print and Share Changes
1. Added metadata (publication name, issue date, section name, page label) to the print and share HTML pages
2. Article sharing has been fixed so that the recipient of the shared article doesn’t have to have a subscription account in order to view the article being shared.

About the Irish Newspaper Archive

The Irish Newspapers Archive is the world’s largest online database of Irish Newspapers from which it is possible to search, retrieve and view Ireland’s past in the exact format it was published. With many of Ireland’s most prominent regional, daily and out of print titles, membership allows access to the most comprehensive and complete Irish newspaper archive available.

A two-week free trial has been provided to UMass Lowell for access to the online Newspaper Archive.

Featuring billions of articles from historical newspapers around the U.S. and the world, NewspaperArchive.com is touted as the world’s largest online newspaper archive. Newspapers date from 1753 to present and are all full-page and fully searchable by keyword or date.

New pages are added at a rate of 80,000 images a day, or about 2.5 million pages per month.

The Irish Newspaper Archives, available online as an annual subscription from the UML Library web site, has added new content to its holdings:

The Kerryman

2008

The Nenagh Guardian

1838-1899

The Westmeath Examiner

1921-1949

Beginning next month the following titles will be added:

The Kerryman

2009

Finn’s Leinster Journal

1771-1776

1778-1783

1786-1799

1801-1803

1805-1808

1818-1925

1827-1828

The Irish Newspaper Archive is the largest online database of Irish Newspapers in the world. It contains complete archives of the Irish Independent (1905-Current), The Freeman’s Journal (1763-1924), the Nation (1842-1897) and many more leading national, regional and out-of date titles. To date the INA has digitized 19 newspaper titles with over 20 more titles scheduled for digitization.

The vast majority of titles run from their inception to current issues and are updated on a monthly basis. All titles are rendered fully word searchable and date indexed. You can also limit searches to pictures and advertisements.

Besides newspapers, the INA is in the process of digitizing other documents of historical interest such as directories and the vast Lawrence photographic collection, consisting of over 50,000 prints from early Victorian Ireland.

Accessibility to the Irish Newspaper Archive is available from the alphabet index list of electronic resources on the UML Library web site home page or on the library’s Newspaper Databases web page.

The Access Newspaper ARCHIVE contains tens of millions of newspaper pages from over 4,000
different newspaper titles dated from 1753 to the present. A local highlight in the collection is the Lowell Sun, complete from 1878-1977.

Every newspaper in the archive is fully searchable by keyword and date. Newspaper ARCHIVE is adding over 80,000 newspaper page images a day, or about 2.5 million pages per month.